Elk Hunting 2012

Jimmy and Trent on day one of our elk hunting trip near Zortman, Montana

I'm carrying the lunches to insure that I'm not left behind! Ha!

Time for a lunch break.  The sunshine was glorious that day.

This is the day the Jimmy, Trent and I hiked 8 miles.  We didn't see a single
elk, but after a lunch break we started calling "Hoo-ti-hoo!" and we did
finally scare up about 5 mule deer.  They were very curious about the
strange sounds, but they didn't like the looks of us and
they went dashing across the hills.

Hey look, I think I see something.  

Towards the end of our hike we could see our campsite.  See those two
little white dots down below?  Our camper is on the left side.  We had
such a great time!  Trent and Cassie were there for a few of the days.
We had success on the last day, so we have elk in the freezer and it
only snowed a little bit on the way home, so the drive wasn't too treacherous.
And after being away for 10 days, it was lovely to get home.

Today's post is a tribute to Phoebe, our sweet "mutt" that we adopted out of the Mountain Trader almost 9 years ago.  She was always too happy to let us know if a skunk was on the property and she loved to play in the water like no other dog I've known.  If you had a garden hose in your hand, she thought it was purely for her enjoyment.  The flowers got watered only after she was drenched and exhausted.  I opened up a folder of pictures to look for one of Phoebe to share here and this is the first one I found.  Three years ago this month, our precious Morgan went to heaven so I like the thought of her being reunited with Phoebe.  I don't care what anyone else says, I believe in the phrase that "all dogs go to heaven".  As much as Morgan loved animals, I'm sure she's convinced the Father to let her have a menagerie, so Phoebe should fit right in.  Farewell for now, dear Phoebe.

building a new wall

Ta-da! New wall in place.

Wow, it looks so different with the insulation in the walls and drywall on the ceiling.

Just look at that beautiful sheetrock.  View from the living room looking into the kitchen.

Here's a (messy) view of the kitchen, living room on the left.  Sorry that this picture is so dark.

Here's a shot of the windows from the outside.  This week the finishing touches are being put on the mudding and Jimmy tells me we should be spraying on the texture by the weekend.  Then it's on to priming and painting.  Yay!

Lots of laughs with my BFF and sister, Rev

Before I "catch up" to the present time, I have to share some fun photos from our trip to Oklahoma this summer to celebrate a dear family friend's birthday.  It was a quick trip but we managed to pack a lot of fun into a few days. I was going to post a picture that was taken of me and Jimmy dancing, but a still photo doesn't look any better than we were looking in person, so I decided to keep it to myself.  Self preservation, ya know.  Ha! Ha!

Lindsey, Aedan and Mother at George's party

Trip to Bozeman

 Well, it feels like we've been in a whirlwind of activity!  I guess that's what happens in the summer.  We try to squeeze in as many things as possible before the cold temperatures hit us again.  One exceptionally fun activity was our little jaunt to Bozeman for a visit with Trent and Cassie.

We drove down for a long weekend visit and Jimmy and Trent played golf almost as soon as we arrived.  There's a beautiful 3-par golf course just down the road from where Trent lives and they could hear it calling their names.  I walked a couple of holes with them, but I enjoyed the scenery, birds, flowers, etc. from the truck after that.  The procedure I'd had a few days before kept me from my usual activity, so I took pictures with my camera and read a little from my kindle until they returned.  It was nice to have some quiet time in such a serene setting.

From there we went to dinner at Rio Sabinas in Belgrade.  The carne asada was tender and delicious, but next time I want to order the flaming shrimp meal that they torch right at your table. Someone sitting near our table ordered it and it was pretty impressive looking.

Saturday was filled with more golf for the boys and Cassie had to work.  I continued to recuperate and logged quite a bit of pinterest time.  : )  Trent made reservations for supper and we drove out in the middle of stinkin' nowhere to have the absolute best ribs I have EVER tasted.  Trent wasn't sure he wanted me to blog about his "secret discovery" but I assured him that the 3 people that read my blog would not cause him to have any serious trouble procuring reservations in the future.  But seriously, if you ever have the chance to stop in the teensy-weensy little town of Willow Creek, Montana, don't even bother with the menu - just order the ribs.  You won't be sorry!  Maybe a little huckleberry cheesecake too.  Order it to go and you can  enjoy it the next day.  You'll be too stuffed to enjoy it after that delicious meal!

The next day, after eating the breakfast quiche that Cassie made for us before she headed off to work, we took a drive through downtown Bozeman.  Unfortunately,  the music store wasn't open, as we had hoped, so we went on to the Museum of the Rockies.  I just love going there.  They have a section that hosts visiting exhibits and we got to learn all we ever wanted to know about Napoleon Bonaparte.There's a planetarium, a dinosaur section, an area with early Montana artifacts, and tons of other cool stuff.  Even a gift shop to pick up some great keepsakes or gifts.  But I think my favorite section is the Tinsley house outside.  It's the restored home of the Tinsley family, complete with ladies dressed in period costume and re-inacting what could have been just a regular day when the Tinsley's were around. We found them cooking with the wood stove when we arrived.  I love the "ice box" and the root cellar.  The gardens are filled with vegetables and flowers that were grown when the property was homesteaded.  And, unlike the museum building, they allowed me to take pictures!

Entrance to the Living History Farm - Love the rustic archway!

Lovely lady showing me the ice box

Lots of work to do in the kitchen - preparing Sunday dinner, roast chicken with all the fixins.  

Need to wash up before dinner?  

So where's your favorite museum?  Hee!  Hee!  I'm not even sure my kids think the words "favorite" and "museum" should be used in the same sentence.

Unfortunately, our time was up way too soon and we had to head home.  Sure do love those kids!                                                                  

Neglect

A whole month!  Wow, time has really gotten away from me.  For the past several weeks my focus has been on me, myself and my kidney.  Thankfully, I don't have a lot of experience with health issues and so when something like a Paul Bunyan style kidney stone comes on the scene, I was definitely thrown for a loop!  I have a whole new respect and awe for people who deal with chronic illnesses and pain -- and for the people who take care of them.  I'm so grateful for the way Captain Marvelous has cared for me during this ordeal.  I'm pretty tired of the whole thing and I'm sure he is too!

While we've been working on our kitchen remodel, we had to make the decision to not plant a garden this year.  Of course there are only so many hours in a day and if we try to spread ourselves too thin, nothing gets done very well.  We did plant 3 tomato plants in containers and I had ordered a couple of blackberry plants and 5 raspberry canes, but other than that, no garden.  Most evenings and weekends have been spent doing some form of construction or clean-up.  I snapped a photo of our garden area because its the perfect picture of neglect.  Ignoring the garden allowed the most magnificent weed growth I've ever witnessed!

I had no idea that weeds could grow that tall!

From this picture you can sort of get a feel for the size
of our new porch.  Did I mention how much I love it!?!

It's a good thing that Jimmy and EeeDee aren't afraid of heights! Whew!

Now the kitchen area is waterproofed with the tar paper.  

Here's the big truck that delivered our trusses with the boom that helped set them in place.

Now we have the starting of a beautiful new roof line.  I LOVE the new covered porch across the entire front!

Thirty-three years ago today, we made those promises that we're still keeping today.
Happy Anniversary to my Captain Marvelous!

Yes, we kept that top cake, put it in the freezer and tasted it on our first anniversary.   YuK!  Who started that horrible tradition anyway?

It was kind of tasty at the time, though.  Ha!

The new Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy Jackson
My how time flies when you're having fun!  Right, Cap'n?

The raw materials that will be my kitchen.  Sigh...

 Here are a few pictures of the work that was done on Tuesday evening after work.  Pretty awesome, huh!

Hey, this is really starting to look like something. 

Lovely window spaces for the laundry room.

This is a view looking towards the back door which will enter into the pantry/storage area.

 Hey, we've been busy, busy around here and I have pictures to prove it!  It was so nice to have a long weekend to make some real progress.

Here the gravel is ready and waiting for the cement.

Capn Marv going out to meet the cement truck.

Ready or not, here it comes!

EeeDee and Carl Dean working their magic.

Proof that I helped!  

I took this picture at the beautiful Garvan Gardens in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  It's one of my favorites because I also have a picture of Morgan standing on top of that bridge when we were there one previous summer visiting Mamaw and Papaw.  It reminds me that even though she has already "passed over" into eternity, because of God's great love and care for me, I can have the confidence that when I step into eternity, I will see my Lord and others that I dearly love.
Another reason that I like this picture is because it has one of my favorite verses on it.  It's a good reminder to me that life is full of possibilities.  How great is that?!!  So, here's to all of those possibilities out there, waiting to be found and enjoyed!

Little birthday boy

Aedan recently celebrated his 3rd birthday at the park with friends and family.  It's so amazing to me how time just seems to be racing by.  The great thing about pictures is that we get to freeze moments in time.  Now I can look at this picture of Aedan and I'm instantly remembering what a beautiful, sunny day it was with the sounds of kids laughing and playing. Lindsey made cute little PB&J's for the kids and the adults enjoyed delicious chicken salad on croissants and she made cherry limeades that were fantastic!  As you can see, Jimmy and I and our partners in crime, EeeDee and Carl Dean, were more than happy to take time off from the demolition to come to the park!  Of course, after the party we resumed our work back at "The Projects".

Hey, I promised a picture, so here's a sunrise from our front porch.  Don't you just love Spring?  It holds so much promise, especially when I can hear the bird's singing early in the morning while sipping a steaming cup of coffee.  I'm looking forward to the weekend to see what progress we'll make on our remodel. It's frustrating to only be able to work on the weekends.  If we didn't have jobs we could work on the house all day, every day, but if we didn't have jobs we couldn't afford to do the remodel in the first place.  I have to keep reminding myself that it's going to be so beautiful and worth all the blood, sweat and tears.  And that struggles are character building.  I just hope I still like the character that I become.  Ha!  

Pictures to follow, soon... : )

Dear Rev,
OK, I'm back!!!  Thank you for your love and support and the swift kick in the butt!  Stay tuned for more exciting things to come...